A Stick Up, or A Pay Off

Sixteen billion. The California deficit is just three billion short of the entire budget for the state of Colorado, at nineteen billion. The California deficit is three times larger than the entire budget of the state of New Mexico, at $5.6 billion.

Governor Brown’s solution is a combination of income tax increases on high earners, and a quarter cent sales tax increase, being put before the voters in November 2012. The nine billion dollars generated by this plan doesn’t cover the projected budget deficit. And Governor Brown is now promising to send some of the nine billion dollars to education as a funding ‘increase’.

So, let’s recap

$9billion
–$16billion

-$7billion

Wait: Don’t forget about the education funding increase. I’d go ahead and subtract the education funding increase from the negative seven billion dollars, but as the state of California has demonstrated, math is hard.

In light of the new budget crisis, the Governor has released his May revised budget, along with an implicit threat: Pass his tax measure and and he’ll give the schools more money. Fail to pass his tax measure, and he cuts education funding to the bone!

So the campaign is about taking more tax payers’ dollars. Or about paying off your vote with education funding.